The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of 129,449 square kilometres (49,981 sq mi), and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020. About two-thirds of these inhabitants live in the metropolitan area of Cape Town, which is also the provincial capital. The Western Cape was created in 1994 from part of the former Cape Province. The two largest cities are Cape Town and George.
The Democratic Party (DP) was a South African political party that was the forerunner of the Democratic Alliance. Although the Democratic Party name dates from 1989, the party existed under other labels throughout the apartheid years, when it was the Parliamentary opposition to the ruling National Party's policies.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is a South African political party which is a part of the current South African Government of National Unity (GNU). The party has been the second-largest in South Africa since its foundation in 2000. The party is broadly centrist, and has been attributed both centre-left and centre-right policies. It is a member of Liberal International and the Africa Liberal Network. The DA traces its roots to the founding of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party in 1959, with many mergers and name changes between that time and the present. The DA has a variety of ideologically liberal tendencies, including neoliberalism, social liberalism, classical liberalism, and conservative liberalism. The party draws its support predominantly from Afrikaans and English speakers, people aged over 35, and white South Africans, as well as the Indian and Coloured communities.
Marthinus Christoffel Johannes van Schalkwyk is a South African politician, academic, and lawyer, who serves as High Commissioner to Australia. He previously served as MP and Minister of Tourism in the Cabinet of South Africa. Formerly Premier of the Western Cape and Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of South Africa, he was the leader of the New National Party from its inception on 8 September 1997 until its dissolution on 9 April 2005. He was appointed Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in the Thabo Mbeki administration after merging his party with the ruling African National Congress (ANC), despite the poor performance of the former in the 2004 General Election.
General elections were held in South Africa on Wednesday, 14 April 2004. The African National Congress (ANC) of President Thabo Mbeki, which came to power after the end of the apartheid system in 1994, was re-elected with an increased majority.
The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape. It consists of four hundred members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation system where half of the members are elected proportionally from nine provincial lists and the remaining half from national lists so as to restore proportionality.
Stellenbosch Municipality is the local municipality that governs the towns of Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Pniel, and the surrounding rural areas, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It covers an area of 831 square kilometres (321 sq mi), and as of 2022 had a population of 175,411 people. It falls within the Cape Winelands District Municipality.
Overstrand Municipality is a local municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is located along the Atlantic coast between Cape Town and Cape Agulhas, within the Overberg District Municipality. The principal towns in the municipality are Hermanus, Gansbaai and Kleinmond. As of 2022, it had a population of 132,495.
The City of Cape Town is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of Cape Town and surrounding areas. As of 2022 it has a population of 4,772,846.
South Africa since 1994 transitioned from the system of apartheid to one of majority rule. The election of 1994 resulted in a change in government with the African National Congress (ANC) coming to power. The ANC retained power after subsequent elections in 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019. Children born during this period are known as the born-free generation, and those aged eighteen or older, were able to vote for the first time in 2014.
Municipal elections were held in South Africa on 5 December 2000 to elect members to the local governing councils in the municipalities of South Africa.
The South African Liberal Students' Association (SALSA) exists to unify liberal student organisations across South African campuses. SALSA is the ideological descendant of the South African Liberal Association (SALA) (1936–1968), the first non-racial political organisation in South Africa, gathering many of its liberal principles and goals in its founding constitution. SALSA is a student organisation which is not aligned with any political party; and which believes in, practices and promotes the principles of liberal democracy on campuses.
Although the Democratic Alliance of South Africa in its present form is fairly new, its roots can be traced far back in South African political history, through a complex sequence of splits and mergers.
The politics of the Western Cape differs from that of most other provinces in South Africa, because, unlike the other provinces, the African National Congress (ANC) does not dominate the political landscape. Instead, the province is a stronghold for the Democratic Alliance (DA), which has won a majority of the vote in the province in every national, provincial, and municipal election since 2009. The Western Cape's political landscape is also notable for the presence of a relatively strong local devolution and separatist movement.
The 2016 South African municipal elections were held on 3 August 2016, to elect councils for all district, metropolitan and local municipalities in each of the country's nine provinces. It was the fifth municipal election held in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994; municipal elections are held every five years.
Nicolaas Jacobus Janse van Rensburg "Nic" Koornhof is a retired South African politician who served in Parliament from 1987 to 1998 and later from 2009 to 2019, representing various political parties. He is also a former member of the Western Cape Executive Council.
Daryl Wade Swanepoel is a South African politician and political strategist who is currently the chief executive officer of the Inclusive Society Institute. He represented the ANC in the National Assembly from 2013 to 2014.
Izak Jacobus "Sakkie" Pretorius is a retired South African politician from the Western Cape. He served in the National Assembly from 1994 to 2004, representing the Western Cape constituency. He was later elected as a local councillor in the City of Cape Town.
The 1999 Western Cape provincial election was held on 2 June 1999, concurrently with the 1999 South African general election, to elect the 2nd Western Cape Provincial Parliament.
The 2004 Western Cape provincial election was held on 14 April 2004, concurrently with the 2004 South African general election, to elect the 3rd Western Cape Provincial Parliament. As of 2024, this election was the first and only time in which the African National Congress led the provincial government, as well as the most recent time that the ANC was the largest party in the Provincial Parliament.
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